Electric model car racing systems have, for well over the past 30 years, generated a large amount of enthusiasm and commercial interest. As the interest in such devices has increased, so has the technology used to support these model car racing systems.
The related technology began with sets having vibrator cars, and has progressed to today's sophisticated scale vehicles enhanced with magnetic attraction. Tracks involved with these systems range from simple two lane home slot car tracks, to slotless systems, to sets with electronic enhancements. Large commercial multiple lane tracks, including features such as magnetically enhanced copper coated steel braid conductors, operate around the globe and offer an assortment of track configurations to increase the required skill level and realism of model racing. Many commercial slot car raceways use personal computers (PC's) to post time, speed, and lap data for each operating lane.
Each technological advancement through the evolutionary process of model car racing has brought with it an incremental increase in the enjoyment for model racing enthusiast. Various attempts have been made to improve the model road race systems of the prior art and to increase the realism of these systems. For example, Mabie, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,118, discloses an electronic lap counter for vehicular racing games. A light board is used to display the completed lap count. Conkins, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,771, discloses a system for counting laps completed, timing individual laps, the elapsed race time, and visually indicating these parameters to the operators.
Magnetic traction enhancement for miniature vehicles, now the standard in HO scale model racing, is disclosed in Bernard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,661. Smith et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,107, discloses an apparatus for sensing static pit position and laps completed, a system for calculating and displaying various track functions, and a means for introducing simulated failures by removing power supplied to a specific electric vehicle lane.
While each of the above patents represents an increase in the sophistication and realism of the electric model car racing systems, each falls short of providing an accurate simulation of today's real motor sporting events. Prior art simulations use rheostat hand controllers to directly vary the voltage to the track and these systems have no means of indirect control in response to specific track events. Power to the vehicles is either on or off, with no reduction steps available for forcing players to slow their cars for running starts, simulated malfunctions, fuel shortages, or caution periods. The prior art devices do not have means to detect vehicle crashes, nor means for realistically enunciating such events. Prior art examples either use mechanical lap sensing devices that interfere with the smooth operation of the cars, or "dead strips" that are electrically isolated from the remaining track and cause the cars to stop on the electrically segregated strip. These limitations, in conjunction with the lack of a realistic and functional pit area segregated from the main track way, make the prior art devices inferior in race simulation and entertainment value.
An accurate scale racing simulation should include segregated track events governed by specific, but separate, rules for practice sessions, qualifying, and racing. These simulations need flag signals (i.e. white, yellow, and green), dictated by actual track occurrences, such as "crashes," and means for varying the operational parameters available to the participants which are responsive to specific track events such as "crashes", or a simulation of limited resources, like fuel usage and tire wear. Improvement in the realism of the track operations, including segregated pit actions and induced chance, is also a need which exists.